Policemen had on Friday allegedly raided the head office of the newspaper in Abuja and arrested one of its editors, journalists, and staff members.
The Nigeria Police Force, Federal Capital Territory Command, has denied raiding the head office of Peoples Gazette newspaper.
Policemen had on Friday allegedly raided the head office of the newspaper in Abuja and arrested one of its editors, journalists, and staff members.
John Adenekan, an assistant managing editor, was taken away at about 12:35pm by five armed police officers who broke into the paper’s office opposite NNPC Quarters in Utako.
The officers later returned to the office to arrest four other staff members, Ameedat Adeyemi, Grace Oke, Sammy Ogbu and Justina Tayani.
But reacting, the FCT Command’s Public Relations Officer, DSP Josephine Adeh, claimed that journalists and staff members of the newspaper were only invited for questioning over a petition written against them accusing the paper of defaming the character of former Chief of Army Staff, Lt Gen Tukur Buratai (retd).
According to The PUNCH, DSP Adeh said, “Our officers did not raid any media house. We don’t raid media houses because we know better, and media houses are not criminal hideouts.
“Someone had written a petition accusing the newspaper of defamation of character. The newspaper was accused of defaming the character of the former Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai. However, we got a warrant from the court to invite them for questioning.
“So, the fact of the matter is that there was a petition against Peoples Gazette, and they are not above the law. So, if someone had written a petition against them, the right thing to do is to invite them, and that was what we did. We invited them for further investigation, and we carried the Nigerian Union of Journalists along on this matter. We’re not taking any action behind the NUJ, and there is also a warrant from the court to invite Peoples Gazette for questioning.
“We have no malicious intent for inviting them. Our officers went to Peoples Gazette office this morning to invite them to come to give a statement in response to the petition at the Utako police station. And as I speak to you, the NUJ Secretary is with them at the Utako police station as they’re making their statements.”